Laughter is The Best Medicine
by cocopops1995
Summary: Dick Grayson is recovering from his run-in with the Crime Syndicate when he comes across a joke that brightens his day considerably


**AN: This is just something completely random that came to me while I was lying in bed last night… Enjoy!**

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**Laughter is The Best Medicine**

Richard John Grayson was recovering at Wayne Manor, apparently having Lex Luthor literally kill you so that your heart can stop for long enough for a frantic Batman to get you out of the Crime Syndicate's murder machine and then being revived by said frantic hero and then having to fight your way out of the Syndicate's stolen H.Q. after barely a minute to recover could put quite a lot of strain on your body. Who would have guessed, right?

Everything else had been taken care of after Batman had left him in Alfred's care that night; the Crime Syndicate were defeated and Alexander Luthor was stopped before he could ruin the world, or whatever it was that he had been planning to do and the world was convinced that Richard Grayson was, in fact, not Nightwing. The Syndicate had kidnapped the poor young man on his way to Gotham and dressed him up as Nightwing to break the population's hope. Why kidnap Richard instead of the actual Nightwing? Simple, because the actual Nightwing is just too good to get caught and Richard was just unfortunate enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and it didn't help that his hair colour and body build was somewhat similar to that of Nightwing. Convincing the media and general populace of this was, of course, not an easy feat, but once Nightwing was spotted on patrol with Batman while Richard was still in Gotham General it was difficult for them to argue otherwise. Apparently it hadn't been that difficult to convince Jason dress up as Nightwing until Dick was ready to go out again, gotta love family.

Dick sighed as he reached for the book Wally had left him the night before. A book of jokes because laughter is the best medicine and since Wally couldn't be there to make Dick laugh all the time, a book of jokes would have to make up for his absence. A wry smile crossed Dick's lips at his best friend's logic as he opened the book to a random page and started reading. Almost immediately his eyes fell upon a joke about a drunk. He read it and laughed out loud before reaching for his cell phone. '_Gotta send this one to… everyone!'_ he thought with a grin as he typed out the joke and started selecting names from the bottom of his contact list. _'Wally… Timmy… Jason… Damian… Babs… Bru- hmmm' _he stopped before selecting Bruce's name and then grinned, _'Nope, gotta see his face for this, I'll tell him when he gets home'. _With that he hit send and then set his phone down in his lap and continued reading, waiting for the replies to his joke to come through.

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Wally was in the middle of inspecting a dead body with his uncle when his phone buzzed. When he checked and saw that it was a message from Dick he immediately opened it.

"Hey, you know the rule about phones on the job." Barry teased him

"It's from Dick." Wally said simply as he started reading the message. Five seconds later he burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Barry asked

Wally read the joke out loud and soon they were both laughing

"Oh man, I knew leaving him that book was a good idea!" Wally stated as he typed a quick reply to Dick before getting back to work.

'_Wahahahahaha lol dude that's a good one! I told you about that book, didn't I?'_

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Jason was sleeping when the sudden beeping of his phone woke him up. He swore at the phone before picking it up and staring at it through the sleep still in his eyes. He saw that it was a message from Dick and opened it. He read the message twice to ensure that he had understood it right the first time and then snorted. He was about to chuck the phone away but then he thought that Dick must be pretty bored to be sending such stupid jokes around so he did something he hadn't done in years: he typed out a reply to Dick's message and then he chucked the phone away and went back to sleep.

'_Dude's got balls.'_

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Tim was sparring with Cassie Sandsmark, also called Wonder Girl, when his phone suddenly rang with its 'Gotham' tone, indicating that someone from his family was contacting him.

"Hold up for a second, Cass." Red said as he went over to his phone.

He opened the message from Dick and had to smile, it was so like Dick to send a joke like that around. Tim shook his head as he typed out a reply to Dick's joke, knowing full well that Dick was expecting one. Tim was just glad that Dick seemed to be returning to his old self.

"What's got you so cheerful all of a sudden?" Cassie asked

Red shook his head again, "Nothing important, let's get back to work then, shall we?"

'_LOL that guy should just be happy that it was only a nun and not the real deal. Sparring with WG now, will call later'_

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Damian was at school wondering how the lesson could possibly get more boring when his phone vibrated in his pocket. He discreetly pulled out his phone and checked the message. When he saw that it was from Dick he rolled his eyes, figuring that his eldest brother was mostly probably also bored out of his mind and wanted Damian to keep him company since everyone else was too busy or something. He frowned as his eyes caught the first six words and then quickly read the rest of the message. Sure that no one was looking he allowed a quick smirk to grace his lips before he rolled his eyes and typed out a reply. He glanced back up at his teacher and tried to imagine her in a nun's uniform…

'_That's idiotic Grayson. Stop distracting me from my boring lesson.'_

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Barbara was just sitting down with a cup of tea when her phone buzzed. She was smiling by the time she finished reading the message from Dick; more so at the fact that Dick was sending stupid jokes around than at the stupid joke. She hadn't been to see him in a few days because she wanted to give him time to rest and she was glad to see that he seemed to be getting his energy back. The smile was still on her lips as she replied to his joke.

'_LOL, the poor nun. See you tonight, Man Wonder.'_

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Bruce entered the Manor with a deep frown on his face. He was quickly beginning to lose the little bit of patience he possessed for the media. His phone hadn't stopped ringing for the past month. For the first week all they wanted was further comments on the press conference he had held to explain Dick's 'involvement' with the Crime Syndicate. The week after that Jason had started running as Nightwing and the calls started asking for him to comment on the Nightwing sightings. The week after that he brought Dick home from the hospital; they had to change ambulances twice to throw off the paparazzi and Leslie had been so worried about the stress it was putting on Dick that she had finally sedated him. Not that the ambulance changes helped at all since there was a pack of paparazzi waiting at the front gate to Wayne Manor. One that had shrunk considerably in the past week but had yet dissipate. The calls to his office now requested constant updates on Dick's condition. Bruce had been about ready to throw his phone at the wall when Lucius finally suggested that he take the afternoon off. Bruce readily agreed, almost desperate to get to the peace and quiet of his home and to check up on Dick for himself.

"Good afternoon, Master Bruce." Alfred greeted as he took Bruce's jacket and briefcase from him.

"Hello, Alfred." Bruce greeted with a long sigh as he ran a hand over his face

"Have the sharks not let up yet, sir?" Alfred inquired

"No." Bruce groaned, "They basically want hourly updates on his condition now that they don't think he's Nightwing anymore. How is he doing though?"

"He's condition seems to have improved since yesterday," Alfred said, "I must say I never fully believed that laughter is the best medicine until today."

"Huh?" Bruce asked incredulously

"Oh I'm sure you recall that Mister West left him a book of jokes? He's been reading that for the past, oh maybe an hour or so. He has said that there is one joke in particular that he thinks you will appreciate especially."

"Okay then."

In Dick's room Bruce was glad to see that Dick had indeed gained some more colour since yesterday.

"Hey, kiddo." Bruce greeted

"Bruce!" Dick exclaimed with the same smile he used to get on his face when Bruce came home from home while he was still growing up in the manor, "You're home early."

"Lucius sent me home after I threw the office phone at his head."

"Media circus not letting up yet, huh?" Dick asked

"No… but let's talk about something else. How are you feeling today?"

"About the same as yesterday, though Alfred says I look better."

"You do look better."

"Oh, well that's good I guess. Hey, wanna hear a joke that got Jason to actually reply to a message?"

"Jason replied?" Bruce asked in shock

"That he did."

"Then this I gotta hear."

"Okay, so this drunk guy stumbles out of the bar and sees a nun. So he goes up to the nun and punches her in the face. When she hit the ground he goes 'Not so tough now are you, Batman?'" Dick said with a grin on his face

Bruce blinked at him a few times before he too smiled, "The poor nurse."

Dick laughed at him, "That's basically what Babs said."

Bruce shook his head, "I can't believe that actually got Jason to reply to a message. What did he say?"

Dick showed Bruce the message and Bruce had to smile at that

"Well, he's not wrong." Bruce said

Dick laughed again and Bruce joined in. So glad to hear Dick laughing again after he had come so close to losing him a month earlier.

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**AN: 1. DICK GRAYSON WILL NEVER DIE AND DON'T TRY TO TELL ME OTHERWISE!**

**2. SAME GOES FOR DAMIAN WAYNE!**

**3. I personally think that joke is hilarious.**

**4. No I have not read Forever Evil and I never will, unless something like this happens and Dick doesn't die.**

**5. In my mind Damian never died either and I haven't and will not read that comic either.**

**6. Yes I know that ending sucked**

**7. Thank you for reading and please review :)**


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